Yes that question has been asked a thousand times, but this is a little different in that I have narrowed it down to three contenders and wonder which you would choose.

I have very few requirements. 15 - 16 inch screen size, 500Gb+ hard drive, 4 USB ports is the absolute mimimum, I would prefer 6 as I have on my existing laptop (but that is rapidly failing so I can't keep using it much longer without some disaster happening), and it must have hdmi out. Other than that I really don't care much. Battery life is of zero importance to me (I have spent ages looking for a laptop without a battery, on the grounds that I don't see why I should pay extra for something that I never use, but they don't exist, so I will have to have one). The only other thing I want is Linux compatibility, but that is almost impossible to judge until you have bought the machine, then it is too late.

Cheapest, impossible to find reviews of this model, slightly more ram, newer/slightly faster processor, I have used the company before, but not for a long time and recently they haven't had the best reviews (they were OK when I used them). Empty hard drive, no Windows to get rid of, they allow some customisation - ie you can ask for a larger hard drive or even an i7 processor for extra cost.

The clincher - although it doesn't tell you in the non-existent Amazon spec, if you read the reviews (and also the Fujitsu site) the machine has (amazingly these days) an Express card slot in addition to 4 usb ports. This is exactly the arrangement I have on my existing lappy and it allows me to expand to 6 usb ports (I already have the express card to usb3 adaptor, so I don't even need to buy that). This is precisely what I want but have been unable to find until now.

Another important feature (I think anyway) is that the machine comes with recovery dvd's to reset the machine to factory state. This means I can wipe the drive clean to install Linux and if anything goes wrong and I need to send it back under warranty, I have recovery dvd's to reset it with.

The price is good too!

Now I only have to hope it works with LInux. I had a look around before ordering and the only problems reported are Uefi (predictably - I shudder just thinking about it, but it would be the same with any new machine I guess) and possibly the touch pad, but since I always use a keyboard and mouse (which is why I need so many usb ports) that doesn't bother me at all.

Sorry I haven't been around for a while, I got this new laptop, and I have had such monumental problems with it - entirely due to Uefi - that I don't really know when I will get back again, when I have solved them I guess. I haven't posted about them here because I don't actually have Mint installed on it yet, but it is my next step, might as well go for Mint 14.

Well after a week of believing I have purchased a £450 paperweight, I have finally got this laptop to play with Linux (for now at least). I thought that over the years I had been using Linux in various forms I had amassed enough knowledge and tools to cope with almost anything - well I was wrong.

All I can say is that although this is a fairly nice laptop, it is catastrophically incompatible with Linux Uefi. Now exactly whose fault that is you could argue about for ever, the sad fact is that it is Linux and Linux users that have to sort out the problem because if they don't sort it out and this sort of nonsense becomes more widespread, the only future for Linux is in courts of law fighting off class action suits for criminal damage or possibly even manslaughter if someone sticks their screwdriver into the wrong part of their live motherboard.

Sorry I haven't been doing any moderating recently but this has rather occupied all my time as well as giving me a 'crisis of faith' in Linux as a whole. As soon as my blood pressure falls below the critical level I will get back to work!

Crikey viking, well done for sorting it out but feel a bit guilty now that I pointed those machines out! On a different issue just noticed your sig, which will need updating btw, and thought it funny how I've just bought a used dual core Aspire when you're moving on from one?

[Edit] your original post and add [SOLVED] once your question is resolved.

“The people are my God” stressing the factor determining man’s destiny lies within man not in anything outside man, and thereby defining man as the dominator and remoulder of the world.

Yeah, I will get around to the altering the sig before long, don't worry . As for your recommendation, I did take note of it for sure, but I can hardly blame you for that, I bought it because it seemed to offer what I wanted. I don't know who to blame, Ubuntu, Fujitsu or Microsoft (probably the latter is the most culpable, they usually are).

Good luck with the Aspire, my old one is still working although it has several age related problems (a bit like me ). I will keep it though, if I have to keep shorting the motherboard on the Fujitsu every time I install/reinstall a distro the Acer might end up lasting longer than the new machine .